Fool Proof
by Aneirin
Summary: Zim discovers the fatal flaw in his plans for world conquest: himself. He sees all of his errors. And he fixes them. his new plan can't fail, especially when there's a certain human on his side. Genre may change, Rating will change.
1. the nightmare begins again

Disclaimer: I don't own Invader Zim. Just this story

Authors note: This is my first Zim fic, don't be too hard on me. And it is a bit short, but it's almost a prolouge, it just has enough to qualify as an opening chapter.

P.S: The plan mentioned in the beginning right here isn't important, therefor has no specific details. It simply serves as a way for Zim to see his errors.

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Zim paced the floor of his lab. He was in a sour mood, as his latest plan had gone awry. It had all gone so smoothly, until **Dib** had shown up to ruin everything... **again.**

"How?" asked Zim out loud, "How did he do it? Computer!"

"Yes?" asked the computer.

"Show me the surveillance footage," ordered the short green alien. "Any footage showing signs of an intrusion." The computer screen split into five separate screens, each showing different footage. The first showed Dib listening in on Zim's plan while hiding behind a crate. The second showed the fight that had happened between Dib and Zim. The third showed an empty hallway. the fourth showed GIR rolling around on the floor as Dib crept past him. And the fifth showed the outside. Zim concentrated on the third and fifth screens

After a minute or two, he saw Dib climbing a fence on screen five. "What?!" exclaimed Zim, "How is that possible!? How did he get past the guards?"

"There weren't any," answered Computer.

"What?"

"You said that they weren't necessary," explained Computer, "You said, and I quote-" The screen showed a video of Zim saying, "No one in their right mind would dare break into the base of Zim! Besides, no one could get past the electric fence."

"How did Dib climb the fence then?" asked Zim.

"You cut the fence's power so you could use the microwave to make nachos," answered Computer.

"Oh." Zim looked now at screen three. He saw Dib emerge from an air vent. "Hey! Wasn't Mini-Moose supposed to be guarding that hallway?"

"Squeak," said Mini-Moose.

"Oh right," said Zim, "You were helping me make the nachos." Zim was silent for a few minutes. He watched the screens for a bit, until something dawned on him. "Hey," he said, "Computer, if you saw all of this, WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM!!?"

"You had told me to reroute the power from the defense mainframe to make a second plate of nachos," answered Computer, "Plus a bag of popcorn."

"Then why didn't you at least tell me that he was there!?"

"I tried! You told me not to interrupt your 'moment of triumph'. If you had listened to me when I tried to tell you the dangers of making nachos using the defense grids power, Dib couldn't have ruined the plan."

"...So... It's my fault?"

"..." There was silence.

"Computer?" asked Zim calmly and thoughtfully, "Was the failure my fault?"

"...Well," answered Computer, "Yes. This wasn't the first time either."

"How many of my other plans did I mess up?"

"..." Computer didn't say anything.

"Computer," said Zim, "Answer me."

"All of them," Computer finally said. Zim was stunned.

'All of them?' he thought. 'But how? I am the Great Zim! I make no mistakes!...Do I?' "Computer," asked Zim, "Do you have any footage showing failed missions?"

"Yes."

"Put them all on a disk please." Computer searched through several files, collecting the requested data. It put it on a disk and a robotic arm handed the disk to Zim. Zim took the disk and asked, "How much video is on this disk?"

"Hours and hours worth," said Computer. Zim looked at the disk for a moment. He then walked into another room and put the disk into a DVD player-like device. He sat down and began watching.

888

Zim couldn't believe it. Which was understandable, as he had spent the last six or seven hours straight watching plans blow up in his face. Computer had been thoughtful enough to go through the files as he put them on the disk, highlighting several key points that had led to Zim's failures. While several videos showed GIR as the cause of failure, the videos were predominately of Zim screwing up.

Dib (of course) was a prime factor in it all, but half of the time it was Zim's screw ups that led to Dib's success. The fact was, Zim was upset. "I'm a failure," he said sadly.

"Squeak," said Mini-Moose.

"You're right!" exclaimed Zim mournfully, "I was too arrogant!" Zim put his head down and closed his eyes. Suddenly, he started thinking clearly. He got up and ran back to the lab. He started looking a couple of things up. And then, an amazing plan started forming in his mind. "Yes... Yes!"

"Squeak?"

"Yeah Zim, what is it?" asked Computer.

"I have an ingenious plan!" said Zim, his confidence restored. "It's technically only an outline of a plan, but I know just the person to help me iron out the finer details. Computer!"

"Yes?"

"Bring up the Skool's files," said Zim. "And anything else you can find on the Dib-monkey's family. If I can ally myself with a certain someone, we will be... unstoppable! Mwuahahahahahahaha!"

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Uh-oh! I like where this is going! What is Zim's plan this time? What human is he talking about? And why did it take so much power to make nachos?

Tune in next time to find the answers to these questions and more.

P.S: hope you liked it!


	2. phase one

Disclaimer: Own not do I, Invader Zim,

For Jhonen Vasquez created him.

Author's note: Just saying this to avoid confusion. I'm going on the theory that Skool is grades 1-8, and that the series started when Dib and Zim were in fifth or sixth. Okay, we have that out of the way now.

answers to questions and comments: Falkun- I use 8's as page breaks, indicating a time or setting change

Bulba1: It took him almost the whole chapter didn't it?

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It had been about two years since Zim had arrived on Earth. And in all that time, he still hadn't gotten that used to humans. He had a slightly better understanding of them now though, so he was able to blend in a _little_ bit better. He looked around the Skool playground. Horrible Earth-Monkeys were everywhere, and Zim felt like they were making all of this noise just to bug him specifically.

"So Zim!" said a voice from behind him suddenly, causing him to jump and turn around instantly. "What's your big plan this time?"

"What do you mean plan?" asked Zim irritably. "Zim knows nothing of any plans."

"Cut the crap Zim," said Dib. "I know you have a plan! You always do! And I'll always be here to stop you!" He struck one of his patented "hero" poses.

"Look!" exclaimed Zim, pointing right behind Dib, "My plan's right over there!"

"Huh? What? Where?" As soon as Dib turned around Zim ran. He soon lost sight of Dib through the crowd of kids.

'Glad that's over,' thought Zim, 'For now anyway. Now, where is- Aha!' He saw Gaz sitting at a table, playing her _Game Slave 2_. For the entire time he had known her, she always seemed to be doing that. And if she wasn't, she was either reading something or beating someone up (namely Dib or Zim). He walked over to where she was sitting and sat down across from her. She kept playing, indicating that she didn't know he was there, or didn't care that he was there. He waited a few moments before speaking. "It's Gaz right?"

"What do you want?" asked Gaz, continuing to play her game.

"I want to make a proposition," said Zim.

"..."

"Right," said Zim, starting to get nervous. 'Dammit she freaks me out!" thought Zim as he tried to keep his cool. "I have come up with something of a plan to take over the world."

"So?" asked Gaz. "Why are you telling me? Shouldn't you be telling Dib this sort of junk?"

"Well," answered Zim, "It's more of an outline really. But one of the key points in this plan is you." Gaz raised an eyebrow, ever so slightly. "You see," continued Zim, "You are one of the most dangerous humans on this planet. You also have a connection to the Dib-Monkey."

"I'm listening," said Gaz, liking how he said 'Dib-Monkey.'

"I need your help for two things," said Zim. "One: take care of Dib. And two: help me take over the world." Gaz actually looked up from her _Game Slave_ and looked at Zim.

"So," she said with a slight hint of amusement, "You, the 'Great Zim', need my help?"

"Yes," answered Zim. "You happen to be one of the most logical humans I know, and I need your help with my plan. You see, I have recently discovered my own flaws. I also see now that it takes more than one to take over a planet such as this, especially with Dib around."

"I don't know," said Gaz, in that kind of tone that asks "what's in it for me?".

"Think about it," said Zim. "You could be Empress of the World! You and I would be in charge. You could have anything you want! Jewels, money..." he looked at her _Game Slave_, "Video games, anything! All you would have to do is take care of Dib and help me iron out my... I mean **our** plan."

"Hmm..." Gaz thought about this for a bit. She thought about what Zim said and realized that he just might not be a pompous idiot anymore, and that his plan (whatever it was) might work. He also hadn't really revealed anything about his plan yet, something that the old Zim probably would have done by now. "Alright," she said finally.

"Really? You will?" Zim hadn't thought that she would agree.

"Sure," said Gaz, going back to her game. "I don't have anything better to do."

"Yes!" exclaimed Zim. "With you and I working together, nothing can stop us!" Just then, Dib broke from the crowd. "Uh-oh," said Zim. "Gotta go! Can't let him get suspicious. I'll contact you later!" Zim ran off right before Dib saw him. Dib ran over to Gaz.

"Gaz!" he exclaimed, the very sound of his voice irritating her. "Did you see Zim?" Gaz growled in response. "Oh," said Dib, "Sorry to bug you." He backed away slowly, making sure not to turn his back on her until he felt that he was a safe distance away. "Now where did he go?" Dib started looking around. Suddenly the Skool bell rang, announcing that recess was over. Dib made his way back to the building with the other kids.

Gaz sat at her table a moment longer. 'Stupid Dib,' she thought. She saw Zim walking into the building as well. 'His plan better be good.' She began to walk into the building.

888

_Ring-ring_! The phone went off in the Membrane household. "I'll get it!" said Dib. "Hello?"

'Curses,' thought Zim on the other end of the line. He tried disguising his voice. "May I speak to Gaz?"

"May I ask who's speaking?" asked Dib.

"I'm one of Gaz's friends," said Zim, thinking quickly, "And I needed to know... What our homework was!"

"Um, okay," said Dib somewhat suspiciously. 'Since when did Gaz have friends?' "Gaz!" he called, "Phone's for you!"

"You don't have to yell," said Gaz, "I'm right here."

"Ahh!" Dib cried. "Don't do that!" He handed her the phone and tried to control his breathing. He hated when she appeared right next to him. He went to the living-room. Mysterious Mysteries should be on by now...

"Hello?" said Gaz.

"Hello Gaz," said Zim.

"Zim?"

"Yes. It's me."

"How'd you get my number?" asked Gaz.

"Skool directory," answered Zim.

"Why did you call then?"

"Well," Zim began, "I needed to tell you what the plan was."

"Okay," said Gaz, "I'm listening."

"Alright," said Zim. "Phase one: get you on my side. Phase two: gain more knowledge of this wretched planet. Phase three: fix GIR. Phase four: contact the Tallest-"

"Wait," interrupted Gaz, "That's what you call your leaders? The Tallest?"

"Yes," said Zim. "The Tallest are the leaders of the Irken Empire. I'll need to talk to them about being put in charge of this planet once we've taken over."

"Right. Keep going."

"Phase five: gain the humans' trust. Phase six: get rid of Dib. And finally, Phase seven: take over." Zim paused for a moment. "See, it's only an outline. But we can work out the details as we go. What do you think?"

"..." Gaz was silent for a moment, going over the plan outline in her mind. "Not bad," she said finally. "I'm impressed Zim. You finally came up with a plan that wasn't completely ridiculous."

"Thank you," said Zim. "See you tomorrow then."

"Whatever." Gaz hung up. She began wondering how she was going to get Dib out of the way. She looked at him watching TV in the other room. Shouldn't be too hard.

888

Back in his base, Zim checked Phase one off of his checklist. Everything was going according to plan. He looked at GIR, who was currently running around making stupid noises. Luckily, tomorrow was Tuesday. He would have almost the whole week to learn what he needed to about Earth. He might even be able to complete Phase three by Saturday. Oh yes. Everything was going according to plan.

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I know, still short. But it's longer than the last one. I'm trying to get used to not having any action. There will be some eventually, just not yet.


	3. beginning phase two

Disclaimer: Own not do I, Invader Zim,

For Jhonen Vasquez created him.

Author's note: Okay. I've decided that they (Dib and Zim) were in sixth grade when the series started, and they are now in eighth. Just saying.

WARNING! This chapter mentions several of the world's problems, including some touchy material. If you don't like to see that kind of stuff, then skip this chapter. But know that the problems listed here are only listed once.

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It was Thursday. Zim had spent the last two days researching Earth. And not the usual way (asking Computer to make "educated guesses" about things and asking the teacher stupid and suspicious questions). He was using horrible torture devices known as "text-books". He was also checking out books from the Skool library. This had all been Gaz's idea, after he had told her how he usually researched things. She had slapped him upside the head, handed him a book., and ordered him to start reading.

Zim had been reading during most of his free time in the last 48 hours. And he was disgusted.

"Look at all this!" he exclaimed as he sat at one of the tables outside. Gaz was sitting on the table itself, playing her _Game Slave_ and _occasionally_ watching for Dib. "Crime, disease, mass starvation, homicide, genocide, _suicide_, global warming, pollution, war, terrorism! This planet has so many problems!"

"Mmhmm," agreed Gaz.

"And almost all of them are caused by humans! How can any one race be this, this... stupid!"

"This coming from an guy whose race's leadership is determined by how tall you are," said Gaz. Zim grunted. "You have a point though," Gaz said. "Humans tend to cause a lot of their own problems."

"How can you say that so casually?" asked Zim. "If my race was that screwed up, I don't know what I'd do!"

"Tallest," said Gaz, continuing to play her game.

"I have yet to find anything positive about this planet or humans in any of these books," said Zim, turning to the next page. He read for a bit longer, finally putting the book down. He rubbed his eyes, which were beginning to hurt after all of the nonstop reading. He looked at Gaz. "How can you play that thing so much?"

"It's fun," said Gaz.

"No," said Zim, "I mean your eyes. How can you stand looking at something that long? Don't your eyes hurt?"

"I built up an immunity," said Gaz.

"... That's unhealthy," said Zim. He rubbed his eyes again and picked up another book. This book had a slightly less negative tone. It was about important figures in history.

"Zim," said Gaz suddenly.

"Huh?"

"Hide." Zim looked up. He saw Gaz looking behind him, and followed her gaze to see Dib. He was about five yards away, and looking around. Zim ran to a nearby tree and climbed up quickly. He looked through the leaves to see Dib making his way over to the table. Zim looked back down to see that he still had his book with him. It was open to 'Napoleon'. Zim began reading.

By the time he looked up, Dib was long gone. Zim climbed back down the tree and went back to the table. "You stayed up in that tree long enough," said Gaz, not even looking up.

"Yeah, well," said Zim. "I found a very interesting human in this book."

"Who?"

"Some guy named Napoleon," said Zim. "He seemed to be an excellent conqueror, much like myself."

"Have you conquered anything?"

"Well no but-"

"Napoleon just about conquered all of Europe," said Gaz. "You haven't conquered anything so far. Napoleon was a lot better than you."

"But didn't he lose?"

"Yeah," said Gaz, "But at least he got that far. If there's one thing you can take as a lesson from him, it's that you shouldn't get over-confident. You do that a lot Zim. Everything is run by politics now anyway, so his style of takeover wouldn't work that well in today's world."

"Hmm," said Zim, "Politics, eh. I think I may be able to use that." But before he could come up with something, the Skool bell rang, and everyone headed back inside.

888

"Doom, doom, doom, doom." Ms. Bitters was giving her usual Doom rant. Due to some sort of strange error, Zim and Dib's 6th grade class had been put in the same room each year and Ms. Bitters had been moved from teaching sixth grade to seventh to eighth. After three years in her class, the kids were starting to get as sick of her as she had been of them the first day she saw them. After a few minutes Zim raised his hand.

"Uh, Ms. Bitters?" asked Zim, "Are we actually going to be **learning** anything today?"

"Silence!" yelled Ms. Bitters. She Doomed for a few more moments and then started the lesson. They were studying U.S. history. Currently, they were working on a unit about the Constitution. As Ms. Bitters lectured, Dib couldn't help but notice Zim. He seemed to be taking very diligent notes.

'What is he up to?' thought Dib, 'He's never taken notes before.'

"And judging by a lot of your test scores Dib," said Ms. Bitters, "Neither have you."

"Wait, I said that out loud?" The class started laughing at him. Zim breathed a sigh of relief.

'At least now I know he might be on to me,' thought Zim, making sure he wasn't saying anything. 'Still, there's no chance of him stopping me. Not this time.' Ms. Bitters carried on with the lecture. But eventually said that the United States would implode, and that everyone was doomed, doomed, doomed, doomed, doomed... You get the point. About five minutes before Skool ended, it started raining. 'Uh-oh,' thought Zim

'Yes!' thought Dib. 'Another chance to expose Zim!' This time he wasn't speaking out loud. However, Zim saw the particularly evil look on Dib's face and started to worry. The bell rang and Zim ran out of the room. It wasn't easy considering the large amount of books in his backpack (which he wore over his pak).

'I need to get out of here!' thought Zim as he ran through the hall. 'But how?' He looked around hoping a solution would pop out of thin air.

"Hey!" said a voice, "Over here. Quick." Zim saw Gaz standing at the door. She had an umbrella with her.

"Do you always have an umbrella with you?" asked Zim as he walked over to her.

"No," said Gaz, "I pay attention to the weather." They went outside and Gaz let Zim under her umbrella. Kids were now streaming out of the Skool, and began doing their horrible... rain, dance, song thing. Zim and Gaz had just left the Skool grounds when suddenly Dib jumped in front of them.

"Gaz!" he exclaimed, shocked, "What are you doing?"

"Walking."

"No I mean why is Zim with you?"

"I don't know," said Gaz. Suddenly she pointed behind Dib. "Hey look! A sasquatch!"

"Huh?" said Dib, spinning around. "Where?"

"He went down that street!" said Gaz, pointing. Dib forgot about Zim and went to persue the 'sasquatch'.

"Finally" said Dib as he ran off, "Proof! Proof that what I've been saying is true!" Zim and Gaz watched him go.

"Uh," Zim began, "Thanks."

"Whatever," said Gaz as she started walking. Zim made sure to keep up with her. They walked towards her house, it being the closest. Of course when they got there, Zim realized that with her gone he wouldn't be able to protect himself from the damp doom falling from the sky. He was about to panic when Gaz handed him the umbrella. "You can borrow this," she said. "But give it back tomorrow or I will unleash horrors upon you that you couldn't even begin to conceive."

"Yes ma'am!" said Zim, saluting. Of course he was absolutely terrified of what Gaz had said, but he tried hard not to show it

"Whatever," said Gaz as she shut the door. Zim made his way home quickly. He went inside to find GIR watching the Scary Monkey Show.

'That horrible monkey,' thought Zim as he collapsed the umbrella. He saw Mini-Moose and Skoodge in the kitchen.

"Hey Zim," said Skoodge.

"Squeak?" asked Mini-Moose.

"Oh, my day was fine," said Zim. "I'm starting to get a very clear picture of how this planet is run."

"Cool," said Skoodge. He walked into the living-room with a plate of nachos. They all sat down (except for Mini-Moose who just floated there)and started eating. Of course Gir went crazy as usual and started making a huge mess. Zim looked at him with annoyance.

'Oh yeah,' he thought. 'Phase three is definitely this Saturday.'

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Yay! I finally got it done! Sorry if it seems kinda rushy in places. And I didn't realize until it was too late, that I forgot to mention Skoodge in Ch.1. For anyone who doesn't know, Skoodge has been living in Zim's basement since he conquered Blorch (Home of the Slaughtering Rat People), because he said he was bored. And I hope I didn't over-use the word "horrible". I was just trying to keep with the style of the show, which happens to use that word a lot

If anyone would like to see any other ridiculous snack-food besides nachos, let me know.


	4. a change in plans

Disclaimer: Own not do I, Invader Zim,

For Jhonen Vasquez created him.

Author's note: I'm so sorry about that. Two weeks is bad for me (has it been three?). I've just had a lot of distractions lately. Plus, I'm doing two very different fics at once. Hopefully this horribly long delay... thing, won't happen again. Thanks for the positive reviews.

P.S: got a certain something in this chapter from CatDog. You'll see it.

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"So you're already skipping Phase Two?" asked Gaz, not looking up from her game. Once again, they were sitting at the table outside. Dib was sick today (Gaz had opened up his window in the middle of the night, as well as replacing his pillow with a giant ice-cube) and wouldn't be around to bug them.

"No!" said Zim. "I just figured that getting on with Phase Three first would be best. Gir has been very annoying lately. Besides, if he's running smoothly he will be able to do research for me. Dib is already too suspicious."

"Oh," said Gaz. She had been assuming that Zim had just been getting impatient as usual. 'At least he's finally thinking,' she thought. Zim actually had the circuit-board with him, and was working on it. "Aren't you worried someone will see that?"

"It won't matter," said Zim, "Everyone in this Skool is too dumb to notice it. I bet even people on the streets wouldn't really pay attention." He did some stuff on the circuit-board (you know, stuff that would generate sparks and stuff). "There," he said, "Almost done."

"What are you doing exactly?" asked Gaz.

"It's a behavioral modulator," explained Zim. "I can use it to lock Gir into duty-mode. But..."

"But what?" asked Gaz.

"Last time I did that, he tried to kill me."

"Hmm?"

"Well," explained Zim, "In duty-mode, Gir thinks more logically. Apparently he saw me as a threat to the mission, and tried to _fix_ it. I almost have this done, but I can't risk him going crazy on me like that again."

"Then put in an override command," said Gaz.

"Huh?" Gaz looked at him like he was an idiot. She slapped him upside the head like he was an idiot too.

"An override command genius!" she exclaimed. "Something that you can say that will get Gir out of duty-mode if he tries anything." Zim thought for a second. Thinking was a bit difficult for a moment, considering the force with which Gaz had hit him. But he saw the wisdom in her words.

"Oh," said Zim, rubbing the side of his head. "Good idea." He made some more modifications to the board. Gaz went back to playing her game. After a while, Zim put it away. "I'll have to work on it tonight," he said.

"Whatever," said Gaz. They were silent for a minute or two. The wind rustled some nearby leaves.

"So," said Zim finally, "Are you doing anything this Saturday?" Needless to say, Zim's question caught Gaz off guard. She actually looked up at him.

"Are you... asking me out?" she asked.

"Huh?" said Zim. "What is this, 'asking out'? I was simply asking if you were going to be busy on Saturday."

"Asking out is when... Never mind," said Gaz. "And no I won't be busy."

"Okay," said Zim. "Then could you come to my house on Saturday? You will need to be there when Gir enters duty-mode. Otherwise he may see you later as a threat to the mission." Gaz thought for a moment.

"Okay," said Gaz. She went back to playing her game. Zim took out a history book and read for a few minutes. He soon grew bored, and started looking around the playground. All of the kids were running around doing stuff. And making noise. So much noise! Zim glared at them all for a few moments. Lunch had started only ten minutes ago, so he had to sit through this for a while. He soon grew bored again. Hungry too.

"I'm gonna go grab a snack," said Zim, "You want anything?"

"A churro," replied Gaz. Zim walked over to the Skool snack-bar (conveniently located outside) and bought a couple of churros. He walked back to the table and handed Gaz one, who began to absent-mindedly munch on it. He looked at his with some suspicion for a moment. His two years on Earth had taught him that food that came from the Skool was usually going to cause him pain. He looked at it a moment more and took a cautious bite. It tasted good, and he was surprised that he wasn't in horrible, burning pain.

As Zim munched on his churro, he began to wonder what Gaz had meant by 'Asking her out'.

888

Zim worked on the behavioral modulator when he got home. He was close to being done. 'All I need now is an override command,' he thought. After a few moments, he thought of one. 'Genius!' thought Zim as he put in the command word. The behavioral modulator now complete, Zim went upstairs. There was the usual buzz of activity going on. Truth be told, Zim liked having two more people in the house. Less work for him- er, more people to talk to. Yeah, that was it. Skoodge was trying to get Gir out of a hole in the wall.

"Ahh!" exclaimed Zim upon seeing the hole, "What happened to the wall?!"

"Squeek," said Mini-Moose as he floated by with a container of Vaseline (Gir's head was stuck in pretty good).

"What do you mean 'He was having fun,'?"

"Squeek."

"Please try to stop him next time," said Zim. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'This will be a thing of the past tomorrow.' After half an hour, they succeeded in getting the little blue robot's head out of the wall.

"Let's do it again!" exclaimed Gir.

"No Gir!" said Zim.

"Aww,"said Gir. Luckily, the 'Scary Monkey Show' came on, and Gir forgot all about running into the wall again. Skoodge started to make popcorn. Mini-Moose and Computer started fixing the hole in the wall. Zim began thinking about what Gaz had said.

'What did she mean?' thought Zim, 'What is this 'asking out'? And why did she look at me so strangely?'

888

Back at the Membrane house, Dib was still sick. And annoying as ever. He kept insisting that he get up. "Zim had the whole day without me!" he kept sating, "Who knows what he could have gotten done in that amount of time! I have to go see what he's up to!" Gaz managed to keep him in bed though. One of the Asylums Dib had been sent to over the years had donated a bed to Professor Membrane. It was kind of like a straightjacket, but in bed-form.

After a while, Gaz started to tune Dib out. She knew he couldn't get out of bed, so she went downstairs to watch TV. Tomorrow would be Saturday. Dib had a meeting tomorrow with the 'Swollen Eyeballs', so he wouldn't be around to bug her. And Zim fixing Gir shouldn't take that long. Or so she hoped. She didn't want to have to spend the day watching a short green guy fix an insane blue robot. As she thought about it though, Zim wasn't really that short anymore.

He was growing at the same rate Dib was. It was strange. Gaz knew enough about the Irken race to know that they usually stopped growing at a certain age, and that Zim had surely passed that age. She didn't dwell on it long though. She sat down and played video-games till 11 o'clock, and then went to bed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Once more, my apologies for the wait. I've been busy with school. And I'm easily distracted so... I'll try to update soon.


	5. phase three

Disclaimer: Own not do I, Invader Zim,

For Jhonen Vasquez created him.

Author's note: Just when you thought you were rid of me, I have returned! Sorry about the delay. I was planning on writing during Spring Break, but never actually did. I was also going to draw... but didn't really do that either. I rented Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance okay? It was fun, and it distracted me lots. Anyway, here you go.

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Gaz looked at the weird looking house that was oddly jammed between two apartment-looking buildings. How no one had noticed how out of place it was was beyond her. Getting here had been easy enough. Dad wasn't home (duh) and Dib was at a Swollen Eyeball meeting or something. She didn't really know where he was, but he'd been ranting and raving about sasquatches, ghosts, and aliens on the way out the door. She rang the doorbell and waited. The door opened, and revealed a small floating purple moose.

"Squeek?" asked the moose.

"Zim asked me to come over," answered Gaz. The moose turned inside for a second.

"Squeeeeeeek!" he called out. He turned back to Gaz. "Squeek,"he told her.

"Thanks," said Gaz. She followed the moose inside and sat down on the couch. The TV was on and Gir was watching the Scary Monkey Show. Gaz could here some noise coming from the kitchen. Suddenly, there was a small crash.

"Ahh!" exclaimed a voice, followed by a thud. "Minimoose? Could you come give me a hand?" The small moose floated into the kitchen. A few minutes later Minimoose came back out of the kitchen, followed by a short green guy. "Thanks," said the green guy, "Mini pizzas are so hard to-" he stopped short when he saw Gaz. He was frozen for a few moments. "Ahh! There's a human in the base!"

"Squeek!" said Minimoose.

"Sorry," said Skoodge, "I didn't here you the first time. I was busy making the pizzas."

"Who are you?" asked Gaz.

"Oh, I'm Skoodge," answered the Irken. "Mini pizza?"

"Sure," said Gaz, grabbing one off of the tray. She began eating it. Then, Zim showed up.

"Sorry about that," said Zim. "I had to get everything ready. Glad to see you could make it. I see you've met Skoodge and Minimoose." He grabbed a mini pizza as well. "Thanks Skoodge. Well, we can start in a few minutes. We just have to wait for Computer." They all sat down and watched TV for a while. Zim's eye twitched a couple of times. That _horrible_ monkey...

A little while later, Computer finally spoke up. "It's all ready Zim."

"Good," said Zim. "Oh Gir. I have a surprise for you."

"A Surprise!" exclaimed Gir, quite literally launching off of the ground. "Whatisitwhatisitwhatisitwhatisit!?"

"GIR!" yelled Zim. "Calm down!" Gir instantly stopped, a goofy expression on his face. You know, the one where he has his tongue sticking out. "Follow me." Gaz and Gir followed Zim into the kitchen. They took the refrigerator entrance because Gaz, to put it mildly, wasn't exactly thrilled about the other two choices.

Once they were in the lab, Gir got all excited again. Seeing what was coming next, Zim acted fast. "Gir," said Zim, "Your surprise is right in there." The Irken pointed to a large tube-looking thing. Although Gir didn't know and/or remember, it was actually a holding-cell much like the one used to hold the squid and Nick (the kid with the giant screw in his head that makes him creepy- I mean happy). Gir got in without a second thought and Zim closed the door.

Zim walked over to a control panel. He took one last look at the little blue robot. He actually felt a little bit of remorse for what he was about to do. Gaz felt kinda bad too. She almost liked Gir. With a short moment of hesitation, Zim pressed a button on the panel. The holding cell started to emit a humming noise. There were sparks of electricity as the behavioral modulator activated.

"Aaaarrrgggghhhhh!!!!!" cried Gir. He grabbed his head and started thrashing about. All of the blue on his body flashed from blue to red. It flashed back to blue, and then red again. It finally switched to red and stayed there. Gir took one look at Zim and began smashing his fists against the cell. Mechanical arms came out of the top and bottom of the cells and grabbed Gir's arms and legs. Zim looked on with a grim determination. This plan would not fail, no matter what.

"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!" yelled the little red robot as he struggled against the restraints. "Let Me Go!!!"

"No Gir," said Zim, "Not until you understand who's boss." Gir stopped struggling.  
"You are a threat to the mission!" said Gir. He looked at Gaz, who was watching the whole scene in silence. "You even let a human inside the base."  
"I'll have you know that she's part of the mission," said Zim. Gir started struggling again. "Give it up Gir, you can't break those restraints. I worked almost 18 hours straight making sure everything would hold together. Let me tell you exactly what's going to happen from now on. You are going to follow my orders without question. You are not going to attack Gaz, myself, or anyone else." Zim grinned smugly at Gir's angry look. "And if you try anything, I added an override command to your behavioral modulator." Gir looked angry.  
"So?" he asked coldly.  
"You try anything," answered Zim, "And I can turn you back into an idiot like that!" he snapped his fingers. "Do you understand now?"  
"Errghh," said Gir. "Yes. Sssir," He had to really work hard to spit out the word 'Sir'. Even in his present, almost homicidally insane state, Gir was much more intelligent than he had been moments ago. He knew when he was beaten. He would accept defeat. For now anyway.  
"Alright then," said Zim. "Computer." Computer released Gir. "Now, bow before Zim," said Zim. With great difficulty, Gir bowed. "Good."

888

"Zim?" said Gaz, "Is he gonna be stuck like that permanently?" She looked at Gir. He was looking out the window. His angry face was reflected in the glass. It was around two in the afternoon. Gir had been at the window for a few hours now. Zim, Gaz, Skoodge, Minimoose, and Computer had been very quiet since Gir's transformation. Zim looked at Gaz. He could almost swear he saw a look of concern on her face.

"Unfortunately," answered Zim, "Locking him into duty mode is all I can do. Gir's mind is so complicated that even I don't have the technology needed to fix it. This should hopefully only be temporary. But right now, I don't have time to come up with a permanent solution." He looked at Gir. He was tempted to use the override command and turn him back to his goofy, normal self.

"What is the override command anyway?" asked Gaz.

"I can't say," said Zim. Gaz raised an eyebrow. "It's not like I don't trust you," said Zim defensively, "But I can't risk it being known at all. You told me about how Dib put that hacking-probe into my systems once. I can't risk the chance that he did it again, or that he may have bugged you."

"You really think that Dib would have been able to put any kind of spying gadgets on me?" asked Gaz.

"No," said Zim, "But I still have to be prepared."

"At least you're thinking," said Gaz. She looked back at Gir. This stupid house was depressing now that Gir was like this.

"I don't like it either," said Zim, as if reading Gaz's thoughts, "But this way, Gir can research for me while I keep up an act for Dib. He already suspects that I'm up to something."

"Duh," said Gaz. "He thinks you're up to something even if you're not."

"That's true," said Zim, "But we can't afford any interference at all." He looked at his Pak's screen-arm-thing. Tomorrow we'll contact the Tallest. I'll need their permission to-"

"Their permission?" asked Gaz. "For what?"

"Well," said Zim, "Once we take over the Earth, they'll probably want to destroy it. Or at the very least wipe out all life and use the planet for a giant snack-bar or something. I'd like to actually rule this planet instead, so-"

"Don't ask for their permission!" said Gaz. Zim looked confused. "You idiot, you haven't figured it out yet?"

"Figured what out?"

"You're leaders hate you! They obviously didn't even know Earth existed until they sent you here! They gave you a broken robot-" Gir's eye twitched "And just picked a random spot to send you on a bull-crap mission so that they could get rid of you!" It took Zim a moment to let all of this to sink in.

"They lied?" said Zim disbelievingly. "But why would they want to get rid of me?"

"Rrrgh," growled Gaz, "Computer."

"Yes ma'am?"

"Can you access Zim's memory files from his Pak?"

"Of course," said Computer.

"Show some stuff that Zim may have done to piss his leaders off." Computer hooked up a cable to Zim's Pak. The TV turned on and began showing clips as far back as Zim's birth. For about an hour, they watched a montage of things that Zim had done to the Irken race and the Tallest in particular. When it was over, Zim was a bit upset. Not about all of the failures but about the now undeniable fact that his Tallest, whom he had trusted whole-heartedly, had lied to him and tried to kill him by sending him off into what they had thought was empty space.

Zim was silent for a moment. "..." He had a hurt look on his face. It was soon replaced by one filled with anger. "You're right Gaz," he said quietly. "I don't need their permission."

"So what are you going to do?" asked Gaz. "Are you still going to call them?"

"Oh yes," answered Zim. "But it's not going to be for permission."

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Dun-dun-duuuuuuuun! Zim's pissed! What is he going to say to the Tallest? And what about Gir? He's even more pissed-off than Zim. Trouble's a-brewin' for sure.


	6. phase four

Disclaimer: Own not do I, Invader Zim,

For Jhonen Vasquez created him.

Author's note: I know, I know, I did the "Zim finds out he was being used by the Tallest" bit. But, I'm doing something way different with it. I hope it's way different anyway. All I know, is that I haven't read any other fics where this next thing happens.

PS: sorry if it seems short or rushy.

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Gaz picked up the phone and called home. "Hello?" said Dib's voice on the other end of the line.

"Dib," said Gaz, "I'm spending the night at a friend's house."

"Without even asking first?" asked Dib. "Are you sure that's okay with Dad?"

"Is he home?" asked Gaz.

"Well no but-"

"Then it's okay with Dad. See you tomorrow." She hung up. Then she thought about something. Did she really consider Zim a friend? Well she **was **helping him take over the world, so they couldn't just be acquaintances. 'So yeah,' thought Gaz. 'I guess we are friends.'

She walked over to where Zim was. She had been coaching him on what to say to the Tallest. He came up with most of what he wanted to say, but still took whatever Gaz said and put it too use. She admired his drive, and the fact that he hardly needed any help at all. He knew exactly what he was going to tell them now.

She looked up at the clock. 1:30. She yawned. Zim looked at her.

"Are you tired?" asked Zim.

"A bit," said Gaz.

"Go get some rest," said Zim. "You can take my room. I need to stay up and work on this a little bit more."

"Okay," said Gaz. "Thanks." Zim raised a nonexsitant eyebrow. Had the Earth-girl just thanked him? Strange.

Zim had offered her his room mostly because he didn't trust Gir. He was still liable to go berserk, and his room was the most secure. He stayed up a bit longer, constantly refreshing his rage at the Tallest's betrayal. He fell asleep on the couch around 2.

888

Now, 10:00 AM, Zim and Gaz stood in front of the giant monitor whcih Zim used to contact the Tallest.

"Are you ready Zim?" asked Gaz.

"Yes Gaz," said Zim. "As ready as I'll ever be." The screen turned on, showing Purple slurping away at a soda and Red with a small grin on his face.

'He probably just got done laughing at me,' thought Zim angrily.

"Oh," said Red, "Hello Zim. What do you have to report today?"

"Greetings, my _Tallest_," said Zim, spitting out the word 'Tallest'. Red and Purple noticed the attitude. They didn't like it too well. They looked at Zim curiously. They suddenly noticed Gaz

"Hey," said Purple, pointing at Gaz. "Who's that?"

"This is Gaz," said Zim. "She is helping me conquer this planet."

"Whoa whoa whoa," said Red. "You're actually getting help from one of the planet's inhabitants? I'm pretty sure that is in direct violation of Irken Invader code."

"Yeah," said Gaz. "Whatever." Gaz's rudeness caught the Tallest off guard a bit. But nothing could prepare them for what Zim had to say.

"Yes well, you see my Tallest," said Zim, "I really don't care. I know all about how you sent me out here to get rid of me. I know how you've been laughing at me behind my back. I know that you sent me to Hobo 13 in the hope that I would be killed." Red and Purple were shocked. How did he find out? "In fact," continued Zim. "I have a fool-proof plan this time, and **I** am no longer taking over this planet for the Irken Empire. **We** are taking it over for ourselves. It shall be ours and ours alone. Earth is going to be under our control, with no connection to the Irken Empire. Got it?"

Red and Purple stood there silently for a moment. Purple was so shoocked he had dropped his soda. Red just stood there with his mouth open. He stared at Zim for a second, and then looked at Gaz. Both had very serious expressions on their faces. Purple and Red looked at each other.

"H-he," stuttered Purple, "He just stood up to us. No one's ever talked to us that way before!"

"He's gotten gutsy all right," whispered Red. He looked at Zim, then Gaz, and then Purple. "That's exactly what we need in an Invader! A drive like that!" He turned back towards Zim and Gaz. "Zim! You have the Armada's full support."

"What!?" exclaimed Zim and Purple at the same time. Even Gaz lifted an eyebrow in confusion.

"Yes," said Red. "Zim, I honestly never liked you much. And I never thought that you would ever be able to take over a planet. All I thought you could do was cause trouble. But, what you did just now was the last thing I had ever thought you'd do. If I was wrong about you being stupid, I may have been wrong about you being an Invader. Hey, you succeed at this mission-" Gaz glared at him, "-Which is now **official**, we may even give you back your rank as an Elite. How does that sound?"

"That sounds," said Zim excitedly, "That sounds great! But, I may have to decline."

"Huh?" said Red. "Why?"

"You see," said Zim, "Either way this conversation had gone, I had been planning to rule this planet. Even before I found out about what you really thought of me, I had intended to rule. I was originally planning on asking your permission to keep this planet after I had taken over."

"Well," said Red, "You might as well. There wasn't much we were going to do with it."

"Now hold on!" exclaimed Purple finally. "We're actually going to take Zim seriously!? He's Zim for crying out loud! And besides, I wanted to turn Earth into a snack-bar planet."

"Too bad," said Gaz. "You already heard your pal. Zim and I keep the Earth once we take over. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am!" exclaimed Purple, saluting. He suddenly blushed. "Eh heh," he laughed embarrassedly, "Sorry. I thought I was back in Irken Boot Camp for a second."

"Whatever," said Red. "Good luck Zim." The screen turned off. Zim looked at Gaz, and Gaz looked at Zim. They were silent for a few moments.

"Gaz?" said Zim.

"Yes?" replied Gaz.

"We did it!" said Zim. He did a victory hug (where you hug the nearest person or animal after something awesome happens to you). Gaz blushed slightly, out of embarrassment.

"Uh, Zim?"

"Huh?" Zim's eyes snapped open and he realized what he was doing. "Oh, uh, sorry." he said, quickly letting her go. Gaz put on an angry face.

"Don't let that happen again," she said. She began walking towards the elevator, with Zim following. He couldn't see the slight, almost unnoticeable smile on her face.

888

Red and Purple turned back towards the bridge of the Massive. "I can't believe Zim actually has a chance of conquering a planet," said Red.

"I know," said Purple. "And I can't believe he has a human on his side."

"She seems dangerous," said Red.

"She's scary," said Purple, shivering at the memory. Suddenly, he had a thought. "Hey Red?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it just me, or did Zim look taller?"

"You know," said Red, "He did look kind of taller."

"Weird," said Purple.

"You said it," said Red.

888

"Yes!" exclaimed Zim. He and Gaz were in the living room, along with Minimoose, Skoodge, and Gir.

"What is it Zim?" asked Skoodge.

"The Tallest are actually lending us their support!" said Gaz.

"Yeah!" said Zim. "Tallest Red even commended me on my standing up to them!"

"That's great!" exclaimed Skoodge.

"Squeek!" said Minimoose happily.

"Yeah," said Computer, "We should celebrate!"

"That's a great idea!" said Skoodge. "In fact, I'll be right back." Skoodge put on his human disguise and left the house. He got back soon, carrying a big bag fulla stuff.

888

In an hour, Zim's house was swingin'. Computer had set up some decorations. No reason, he'd just felt like it. Skoodge had picked up plenty of snacks. Everyone was having a pretty good time.

Gir however, was standing in a corner. He watched the whole thing, his eye twitching in anger. "Idiots," he muttered to himself. "Zim will no doubt ruin this plan like he always does. He is a threat to the mission that must be eliminated." He clenched his fist. "Soon," said Gir, "Soon I will destroy him. And the human too. She knows too much." He took one last look at everyone, and left the room. "Soon."

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What is Gir planning? Why is he still so po'd? And what was the deal with the Tallest?

See? I told you I could do something different. I don't think the Tallest were too OOC. Were they? I don't know, you decide. Hope you liked it! Next chapter should be up soon. I hope.


	7. creating a diversion

Disclaimer: Own not do I, Invader Zim,

For Jhonen Vasquez created him.

Author's note: Kay! I'm back! Again! Sorry I've been gone for a month. Please forgive me! I'm doing a little more Invader Zim style stuff in this chapter. As in, something random and weird happens.

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"You lie!" exclaimed Zim. "Zim is up to nothing! Zim is a normal human dirt-monkey... Zim!"

"What human calls himself or other humans dirt-monkeys?!" asked Dib. "We aren't dirt-monkeys!" A particularly dirt covered monkey-looking boy's eyes start watering. He covers his eyes and runs away.

"Nice one Dib," says a kid. "You made Monkey-Kid cry." With the kids turning their attention on Dib, Zim walked away to go sit by Gaz. She said nothing for a bit, and neither did he.

"You don't still think we're dirt-monkeys right?" Gaz asked finally.

"Nah," said Zim. "But the Dib-monkey can't suspect anything. If I don't do all the things that you told me were weird-"

"Everything you did until I told you that it made you stand out to much," Gaz put in.

"Yes, all of that," said Zim nodding, "Then he would know something was wrong."

"Right," said Gaz. She played her game for a bit before saying anything else. "So when do I get rid of him?"

"Not yet," said Zim. "We have to wait until the last second. Right before we come into power. Once we get near that point, we can get rid of him."

"Okay," said Gaz. "And what about Gir? How is his research coming along?"

"Splendidly," said Zim. "I'll soon know everything I need to know about this planet."

"But can you trust him?" asked Gaz. "His eye's been twitching a lot since you made him go into Duty Mode permanently. That means he's probably insane and/or planning something devious."

"I know!" exclaimed Zim. "But I can't do a thing about it! I don't have the time or the technology to get Gir in perfect working order. Gir is incredibly complex."

"Yeah," said Gaz. "His brain's made of some paper clips, a screw, a rubber ball, and a few Irken coins. That's really complex."

"Urg," grunts Zim, "That's what **makes** him so complex! Do you know how hard it is to modify his behavior and efficiency when his brain is made of junk?"

"You have a point," said Gaz. She plays her game more intensely, obviously in a boss battle. Neither Zim nor Gaz speak for about ten minutes.

"So," said Zim, breaking the silence. "Would you come over to my house again this weekend and work with me some more?"

"I dunno," said Gaz. "I don't really like spending all of my weekends working on an alien's scheme to rule the world."

"Then maybe we could just, uh," said Zim, "What do you humans call it? Uh, hang out?"

"You want to just hang out?" asked Gaz, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess," said Zim.

"Sure," she said. "Why not?" The Skool Bell rang and they went back inside.

888

Zim ran home after school. He burst into the front door. "Quick!" he exclaimed. "Computer?"

"Yes?" asked Computer.

"What exactly is 'hanging out'?" asked Zim.

"You don't know Zim?" asked Skoodge, entering the front door. He looked like a normal, short, red-headed kid. He took off the disguise. "You've been on Earth for a while now Zim."

"So?" asked Zim.

"I haven't been here as long as you," said Skoodge, "I haven't gotten out as much as you, I only started Skool last month, and I already know what hanging out is. Even Minimoose knows what it is."

"What?!" exclaimed Zim. "Why does no one tell me these things!" Minimoose floated into the room, nodding... himself to show that he agreed with Skoodge. "You know what it is?" asked Zim. Minimoose nodded again. "Then what is it?"

"Squeek," explained Minimoose.

"So let me get this straight," said Zim, beginning to pull off his disguise. "This 'hanging out' is when a group of people just spend time together doing stuff? That's it?"

"Squeek," nodded Minimoose.

"Oh," said Zim. "It's so simple!" He pondered for a moment. "Well," he said, "I should start reviewing some of that information Computer and Gir have been collecting."

"Can I help?" asked Skoodge.

"Why?" asked Zim.

"Well, two heads are better than one," said Skoodge.

"Don't you have homework to do?" asked Zim.

888

"Why do I keep catching you with Zim?" asked Dib.

"What?" asked Gaz. "What are you talking about?"

"I keep seeing you and Zim together," said Dib. "First, it was that day it rained. I saw you again on Friday. You may not have seen me see you, but I saw. And then, I saw you again today. It was during the point when everyone was getting on my face for hurting Monkey-Kid's feelings."

"Oh yeah," said Gaz. "You hurt Monkey-Kid's feelings today. Pfft, insensitive jerk." It's not that Gaz cared about wether or not Dib hurt Monkey-Kid's feelings, she was just trying to change the subject. If Dib knew that she and Zim had been spending time together, he might start to suspect something. And if he did that, he would start prying and asking too many questions. And when she would finally punch him, he would start sneaking around instead. Gaz and Zim's plan didn't need any of Dib's interference.

"That was an accident!" exclaimed Dib. "And don't change the subject Gaz! You haven't answered my question."

'Crap,' thought Gaz. "What business is it of yours anyway?"

"It's my business when my little sister is hanging out with my mortal enemy, and an alien bent on taking over the world!" exclaimed Dib.

"Just shut up Dib," said Gaz.

"Not until you answer me," said Dib. Gaz glared at him. "Or until you do that." Dib didn't like it when Gaz glared at him. That usually meant that he was getting close to getting pulverized. He would drop it, for now. But something was going on, and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

Gaz left the room, and headed up to her room. She used her wrist communicator to call Zim. At this point, she knew a phone call would be too risky.

"Zim," she whispered into the communicator as she closed the door.

"What?" asked Zim. "And why are you whispering?"

"It's Dib," said Gaz, speaking at a normal volume. "He's getting suspicious."

"How?" asked Zim. "How could he be suspicious? We've been so careful!"

"I know!" said Gaz. "But so has he. He's seen us together several times, and we didn't even know he was there."

"No!" exclaims Zim. "It's too early!"

"I know," said Gaz. "What are we going to do about it?"

"I don't know," said Zim. "It is still far too early to get rid of the Dib. It will generate far too much suspicion."

Both of them sat back to think about this new dilemma. They would have to figure something out to mask their plan. Zim had a thought suddenly.

"Gaz," he said.

"Yeah?"

"Remember earlier today," said Zim, "When I asked you if you wanted to come over to my house?"

"Yeah," said Gaz. "Where are you going with this?"

"You said you wanted to 'hang out', correct?"

"Yeah," said Gaz, starting to catch on.

"What if we pretend that we're just friends or something?" asked Zim. "We can use that to explain why we he's seen us together!"

"..." Gaz was silent for a moment.

"Well?" asked Zim. "Do you have a better idea?"

"It's just," began Gaz. "I kinda figured we already were friends."

"Huh?" said Zim. He thought about it. They seemed to get along well enough. And you don't take over the Earth with just **anyone**. They must be friends. "... Deceiving Dib by using the truth? Genius Gaz!"

"And Dib'll be so freaked out about that, he won't have time to suspect us of even **having** a plan to take over the world!"

"Perfect!"said Zim. "We'll break it to him tomorrow then?"

"Sure," answered Gaz. She turned the communicator off. She checked to see if Dib was listening outside her door. He wasn't. It wouldn't have really mattered though, as she had sound-proofed her room a long time ago for two reasons. The first, was that she didn't want to get woken up by Dib ranting in the morning. The second, was that she didn't want Dib listening in on her. She never really made much noise in her room, but it didn't matter. She still didn't want him listening.

888

"So you and Gaz figured out how to throw that Dib kid off track?" asked Skoodge.

"Yep," said Zim. "By the way, how much data have we acquired on Earth?"

"Tons," answered Skoodge. "Computer estimates it at around 2/5 of Earth's knowledge."

"Good," said Zim. "Things are moving along smoothly it seems. And it is being organized right?"

"Yep," said Skoodge. "All of it's being categorized for easy access."

"Perfect," said Zim. "Once we have all the information, Gaz and I can go through it to find exactly what we need."

"What exactly do you need?" asked Skoodge.

"What we need the most is information on all of the planet's governments," said Zim. "I need to find out how all of them work. Other information that we need is a list of world problems. A very specific list."

"Why do you need that?" asked Skoodge.

"Squeek," answered Minimoose.

"Oh," said Skoodge. "Good idea Zim. That's an awesome plan."

"Yeah it is," said Zim.

888

'This Saturday,' thought Gir. 'This Saturday. The human and Zim will be together. I can eliminate them both in one go. Then I will continue the mission. And I will succeed."

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Ha! I decided to have Minimoose explain the plan. I don't want to give it all away at once. I'm sure you can figure it out if you really think about it.

And it seems that Zim and Gaz both know that they consider each other friends. It's a start.

But Gir has made his intentions clear. Zim and Gaz had better watch out come the weekend.


	8. lunchroom discussion

Disclaimer: Own not, do I, Invader Zim

For Johnen Vasquez created him.

Author's note: After five long years it felt good to type that disclaimer again, lemme tell ya. I feel the need to apologize here, more than on any other fic I'm writing. A five year hiatus with no explanation is just... well, it's not fair to you, the readers. I always knew where I was going with this story, but had trouble getting there. Five years ago, I believed I had written myself into a corner. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. But now? Now I know what I'm doing. Thanks to a good friend of mine giving me a deadline to update all of the fics I needed to update (a whopping total of nine) I was able to sit down and force myself to work. And, lucky you. I am going to have to update much more regularly (weekly at best) if I am to keep up my end of a second bargain I made with my friend. You may thank her, if you wish, in any comments you leave on this chapter. Without further ado, on with the show!

* * *

It was Friday. Friday, Zim had decided long ago, was indeed a good day. It was the end of the week, and he was able to leave Skool for two days without fear of any reprisals. However, it was the worst part of Friday. It was morning. Class had just started.

Zim looked over at Dib, who was busy staring daggers back at Zim. Zim narrowed his eyes at Dib momentarily, but then turned his attention to Ms. Bitters. He was once again diligently taking notes. It got tedious at times, because occasionally he would look down and realize he had transcribed every instance of the word "doom" in her lectures.

The day dragged on and on, it seemed. It got to the point that Zim jumped in surprise when the lunch bell rang. He got up and gathered his things, preparing to head to the cafeteria.

"S'matter, Zim?" asked a certain spiky headed human behind him. "You seem awfully jumpy today. Seems a little suspicious."

'You think everything I do is suspicious,' thought Zim. However, vocally, he took a slightly different approach. "Eh? Zim is up to nothing, Dib-human."

"I doubt that," said Dib, narrowing his eyes. "I'll see you in the cafeteria."

"Then I will see you seeing me in the cafeteria," answered Zim, grabbing his bag and marching towards his locker. He put his backpack and books away and grabbed his lunch. He had taken to studying the Skool's menus beforehand, and knew that today was bean day. He shuddered. He was not looking forward to the aftermath of the dreaded bean.

He took his lunch to the cafeteria and sat down. It was the first day he'd sat inside in a few days. But, Gaz had insisted. In fact, as he thought about his partner he noticed her traversing the cafeteria, coming straight towards him.

"Plan all in place?" she asked.

"Absolutely," answered Zim with dead seriousness. They looked each other dead in the eye, and with the utmost seriousness, they opened their lunch boxes and launched their ingenious plan into action... by eating lunch.

Zim was fairly pleased with his sandwich. He had made it himself (after getting a few pointers from Gaz and Skoodge about what would and would not be acceptable as part of an earth child's lunch) and it tasted quite good. Also, as an added bonus, it was not actively burning into his mouth! It was then that Gaz initiated the first step of her side of the plan. She... struck up a conversation.

"So Zim," she began, taking a bite of her sandwich, "what did you wanna do tomorrow anyway?"

"The same thing we do everyday, Gaz," said Zim, "try to take over the world!"

"..."

"..."

"No but seriously, what did you want to do?" she asked, adding, 'Numbskull,' in thought.

"I was just kidding," said Zim, with a wave of his hand, adding, 'Sort of,' in thought. "I was instead thinking maybe we could go and see a movie?"

"Which one?" asked Gaz.

"There is a film currently playing about a rag tag group of Earth-primates who wish to take their place as the rulers of the Earth," said Zim. "That is the movie that I had in mind."

"Really?" asked Gaz. Zim nodded, perfectly serious. Gaz smirked. "Yeah, cause I'm sure watching a movie about a bunch of monkeys taking over the Earth can give you a few pointers." They both laughed.

"But I think that after that we can-"

"WHAT IN THE SAM HILL IS GOING ON HERE!" a voice loudly cried out. Much of the cafeteria's attention suddenly shifted to the source of the voice. It was Dib.

"Oh, hello Dib," said Zim. "I told you that I would see you seeing me in the cafeteria. Why do you act so surprised?"

"What are you doing with my sister!" demanded Dib. Much of the cafeteria had shifted attention back to their lunch. The open feud between Dib and Zim was obviously well documented by the Skool children. Half of them were mostly bored with the antics, and many others simply did not want to get involved. The remaining, however, were entertained.

"Huh?" asked Zim. "Oh, right, the Gaz is your sister. I forget sometimes, as she is a much more balanced individual than you." Dib hadn't expected the sudden personal attack, but he didn't let it distract him.

"You know perfectly well who she is, Zim," said Dib. "Now I ask again, what are you doing?"

"Um, eating?" Zim offered. "Also engaging in conversation."

"What's it to you anyway, Dib?" asked Gaz. "I can hang out with whoever I want, you know." Dib looked atunned for a moment, but then he looked angry.

"Not with Zim!" he exclaimed. "I can't let my little sister hang out with my mortal enemy! It doesn't work that way!" Gaz growled at him.

"You can't tell me who I can and can't hang out with, Dib!" she shot back. "If I wanna be friends with Zim, I will be. There is nothing you can do to stop me either. And you know what? He and I are gonna hang out tomorrow too. So there!"

"I can't let you do that, Gaz!" declared Dib. Gaz stood up at this, and slammed her hands down on the table.

"Do Not Drag Me Into Your Personal War," she said, emphasizing each word. "If I say he's my friend, then he is my friend. So back OFF!" The cafeteria went quiet. The situation had gone from entertaining to fairly serious, and some of the kids felt awkward listening in now. But then one kid spoke up.

"Hey, yeah," said a kid sitting not too far away. "What business is it of yours? They can be friends if they want."

"It's none of your business," Dib responded.

"None of yours either," said another kid.

"Now hang on just a second-" Dib tried saying.

"Yeah, Dib!" another kid put in. "Leave 'em alone!"

"But-"

"You can't say that they can't be friends!" Soon, the whole cafeteria was in a mild uproar, just about everyone voicing their opinion against Dib's interference.

Dib felt more ostracized than ever. Sure, the kids would likely forget all about it soon enough, but it still really hurt. He hung his head in defeat, and walked away, leaving the cafeteria. A small cheer went up from the kids, but then they all fell back to their lunch as if nothing had happened.

Zim grinned. His plan had worked better than expected, and Dib was temporarily defeated. However, his grin faded when he looked back at Gaz. She still looked very, very angry.

She had sat down, and had put her head down between her crossed arms. "Gaz?" asked Zim.

"What?" she snapped. Zim flinched, the tone in her voice having been linked with pain in the past.

"What is wrong?" asked Zim. "We have won."

"Don't you get it?" asked Gaz. Zim looked at her blankly. "Everything I said was true."

"Oh," said Zim. Then he got it. "Oooooooh. So you weren't acting angry. You were actually angry."

"Yes," said Gaz. "... I need to ask you something."

"Yes Gaz?" asked Zim, feeling a little concerned (though for who or what, he could not tell).

"Aren't you doing the same thing?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"Dragging me into your fight with Dib," said Gaz. "You basically did the exact same thing. That's the only reason we're hanging out." Zim was quiet for a minute before answering.

"That's not true," said Zim. Gaz looked up at him. For once, Zim seemed really sincere and honest. "The reason we are hanging out is not just so I can use you against your brother. Sure, that's a bonus, but it's not the reason."

"Then what is?" asked Gaz.

"Gaz," he said, putting his hand on her arm, and concealing a flinch when her eyebrow raised in response, "we are hanging out so that we can take over the world." She just stared at him, trying to figure out if this was supposed to make her feel any better. "Gaz you are the only human I can trust, the only reliable person I know. You are the one person I'd want to have by my side ruling this planet."

"Really?" asked Gaz.

"Of course," said Zim. "Sure, there's Skoodge, and Minimoose, Gir, and Computer, but those are mere underlings. You? You are co-ruler material. And I mean that." Gaz smiled, despite herself. She was still upset, but something about the little green man in front of her had actually cheered her up.

"Thanks," said Gaz.

"Any time," said Zim.

"I still think you're an idiot," said Gaz. She almost laughed at his reaction, his eyes lowering and his bottom lip sticking out in a manner that said "I quite disagree with you, madam." She smirked. "Oh get over it, Zim. I'm just messing with you."

"I know," he said. "I was, er, playing along. Yeah, that's it, that's what I was doing." Gaz rolled her eyes.

888

The rest of the day had gone without incident. After the final bell, Gaz and Zim had confirmed their schedule for tomorrow and parted ways. Dib, however, was quite upset.

It wasn't every day that he was so totally humiliated in front of the whole school. Sure, it happened most days, but not every day. And today had hurt especially because the blow had been delivered by his sister. He felt a bit selfish.

Zim was a dangerous alien, and his mortal enemy. But did he really have the right to interfere with her social life? Sure, he was her big brother, and it was his job to protect her, but still. He felt like a jerk today, and he wasn't quite sure what to do about it.

Gaz, meanwhile, felt considerably better than she had at lunch. Things with Dib had gone farther than she'd thought, but it was still a success. And it had kind of cleared the air a little. She had been feeling like Zim was just using her to get back at her brother. But, for once, Zim had shown some legitimate honesty. Not honesty about hatching schemes, because that was a totally different kind of honesty. He was being honest about his feelings, which had been a pleasant surprise.

She decided that she may as well prep herself for the movie by watching the trailer again tonight. As she watched it, she actually found herself interested. Maybe Zim had actually picked out a good movie. Maybe he was learning.

888

In his lab, Zim was studying. He decided that he needed to look up the typical movie going experience. He needed to know what to expect.

"Hmm," he muttered to himself, taking notes, "popcorn and soda... possibly candy and other confectionaries... why have I never gone to the movies before?"

Gir, meanwhile, was watching him study. 'What a waste of time,' thought Gir, his eye twitching as he performed a menial household task. 'He should be studying Earth's weaknesses, not planning a day out.' All of this only served to further cement Gir's plan. He would take care of both Zim and Gaz tomorrow. He could complete the mission himself. He could be a thousand times the invader Zim was

And he would prove it.

* * *

Dun dun duuuuuuuuuun!

Gotta say, it felt great to work on this again. Important to note, yeah that was a reference to Rise of the Planet of the Apes I put in there. It is actually a great movie. Go see it. Add that to your list of things to do.

The next chapter has a scene I've been waiting to write for a good long time. I'm just sorry it took so long.

Til next time, stay tuned!


	9. rogue robot

Disclaimer: Own not, do I, Invader Zim

For Johnen Vasquez created him.

Author's note: Well, this is late. I'm not terribly surprised, I am me, after all. Been waitin' to do this chapter for a long time, though. After all of these years I still remember the most important detail of the following chapter. You'll see.

'The day got off to a pretty good start,' Gaz thought. The movie had actually been fantastic, and Gaz was impressed that Zim had made a decent decision. More impressive, though, was the fact that Zim had been mostly able to appreciate the film's finer moments. She'd honestly expected him to ruin the experience by complaining about something, well, stupid.

"Given the usual quality of entertainment on this wretched dirt clod," said Zim, grabbing a handful of what was left of their movie popcorn, "that film was phenomenal."

"Dirt clod?" asked Gaz, raising an eyebrow.

"Eh, old habits," said Zim. "The point is, it was thoroughly enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the part when-"

"Hey!" said Gaz, covering his mouth. "No spoilers!"

"Fine," said Zim, muffled. She took her hands from his mouth. "But why the concern? Is this movie not a prequel or reboot to an existing franchise?"

"Granted," said Gaz, "but it's a totally different thing now." Zim shrugged his shoulders. "So what else do you have planned?"

"I believe there is an arcade nearby, if you wanted to check that out," said Zim. Gaz grinned evilly.

"Sounds good to me," she said.

It didn't take long between getting to the arcade and playing a few games to make Zim somewhat regret the decision. In the name of competition, he had challenged Gaz to a number of games that were made to pit one player against another. And, wether it was a fighting game, racing game, or even a nefarious dancing game, she beat him each time.

Eventually, he found a game that was co-op: Area 51 of the Dead 2: This Time It's Personal. Zim called her attention to it.

"What is this game?" he asked.

"That's the sequel to one of the most popular arcade games of all time," said Gaz. "It's only real competition is Jurassic Carnival: Attack of the Dino-Specters."

"And what is the object of this one?" asked Zim, eying the gun peripheral attached to the machine.

"Well, in the last one, you fought undead aliens who had crash landed on Earth. In this one, the aliens are also infecting humans and turning them into zombies as well."

"Alien zombies?" asked Zim. "That is nonsense. Still, this may prove entertaining." They put in their tokens and started. The game progressed amazingly. If there was one thing Zim was good at, it was fighting. He kept pace with Gaz, even passing her once or twice in score. She may have been the ultimate gamer, but it turned out that he was no slouch as a marksman.

She and Zim got further in the game than she'd ever gotten on just two tokens. In what felt like no time, they were on the final level.

"You ready for this?" asked Gaz.

"I would say that I was born for this," said Zim, "But that feels too cliché."

"Learning that one-liners aren't everything?"

"Sorta," he answered. "Now shoot!"

The entire arcade crowd gathered to watch the final confrontation. None of them had ever gotten this far. Gaz and Zim worked flawlessly in tandem, switching between shooting the giant cyborg-alien-zombie and the missiles it shot wordlessly, each knowing when it was appropriate to switch. It was almost like watching a dance, if that dance was supposed to include explosions, goo, and the occasional flamethrower power-up.

In the end, Zim's and Gaz's eyes met, and they nodded, smiling. They shot simultaneously, perfectly timing the pull of their triggers, which gained them the 5X bonus multiplier. They watched as their foe burst into goo and smoking machine parts. The game started congratulating them, and they turned to each other to shake hands.

"Excellent work," said Zim.

"Likewise,' said Gaz. To Zim's surprise, the machine began spitting out tickets.

"What's this, then?" he asked, grabbing the end of the ticket ribbon and examining it closely. "These do not normally come out of these machines."

"Area 51 of the Dead 2 is the only arcade shooter currently on the market that gives them out," explained Gaz, "and only when you beat it."

"Why's that?"

"It's the hardest one they've ever made," said Gaz. "So they decided to reward the only players awesome enough to finish it." At long last, the ticket machine quit belching out tickets. A quick calculation told Zim that there were upwards of 1,000. That, and a message on screen telling him that there were, in fact, 1,500. He scooped them up.

He'd been on Earth long enough to know what to do with them, so he and Gaz went to the prize counter. Zim took a look at the offerings available at this amount of tickets, and found it lacking. However, he did notice that Gaz was staring intently at something. It was some kind of accessory for the _Game Slave 2_, and was also compatible with the soon to be released _Game Slave 3_. It appeared to be a carrying case. Upon seeing the price, he knew it would cost all of their tickets.

"You want it?" asked Zim.

"Half the tickets are yours," answered Gaz. "Gimme my half and I'll just save up for next time." Zim thought about this for only a second. He handed the tickets to the counter-monkey, and pointed to the case.

The sullen teenager nodded and retrieved the item, handing it to the weird green kid. Gaz'z eyes widened in surprise. Zim then handed it to her without a word, with a brief hint of a smile on his face.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

"Yep," said Zim. "There is no prize here which peeks my interest. So, it makes more sense to just use the tickets on that."

"...Thanks," said Gaz, surprised by his display of generosity.

"No problem," said Zim. "Now what do you wanna do?" Gaz shrugged.

"Head back to your place, I guess." Zim nodded, and they set off.

They chatted on the way back, not talking about anything particularly important. They discussed the game they'd played, Zim asking where they might find the others she'd mentioned, and wether or not they had a home version. He resolved to get any and all he could, noting that the two had displayed an uncanny level of teamwork.

They entered Zim's door, still talking and laughing. The mood soon took a sharp, unwanted turn.

"Zim look out!" yelled Skoodge. Zim turned to look into the living room only to be immediately shot in the face with something. Zim went crashing to the ground. He attempted to get up, his hand moving to his head. As Gaz moved to help him, another, more sinister voice addressed them.

"So, you have finally returned, _Zim_," said Gir, discarding a blaster-looking object. Zim made to retort, to demand what was going on, but found he couldn't. He couldn't open his mouth. He felt around his face, and discovered something there that wasn't there before.

A metallic band now wrapped around his head, keeping his mouth completely closed! His eyes widened in horror. It was then that he was able to take in the scene inside the house. Several pieces of furniture had been knocked over, and Skoodge was taped to a wall

"Gir!" exclaimed Gaz. "What are you doing?!"

"What does it look like, _human_?" asked Gir. "I am eliminating the threats to the mission. Both of them." His eyes glowed a bright red, and he charged forward, clearly bent on destroying them both with his bare hands.

Long mechanical spider-legs burs forth from Zim's pak, and before Gaz knew what was happening, he had picked her up, and they were off running. Gaz almost lost her cool when Zim first ran towards the attacking robot, only to then veer off to the right. They were in the kitchen in no time, and before Gir could turn himself around, they were in the fridge.

Slamming the door shut, Zim then accessed a hidden keypad. After hitting a few keys, the elevator activated, and they began moving quickly down towards the lab.

"This is not good," said Gaz, echoing Zim's thoughts. "With your mouth shut, we can't over-ride Gir. We need to get that thing off!" Zim nodded. Gaz grabbed the band and began pulling. The thing did not budge, and a moment later they had even bigger problems. The elevator suddenly stopped, and the lights flickered and dimmed. They could hear the tell-tale sounds of systems shutting down.

'Not good,' thought Zim. 'Gir must have access to the power grid of the house. That means he can control everything. He's got us trapped now, and it's only a matter of time before he's able to bring the elevator back up to his level.' He looked over at Gaz, who seemed to have deduced as much, which was fortunate, because he had no way to explain.

"How do we get out of this mess?" asked Gaz. Zim thought for a few seconds, before bringing forth a tool from his pack. Motioning for Gaz to stay back, he pointed it at the back wall of the fridge. He pushed the button, and out came a laser. He began cutting through the back of the fridge, and in seconds he was done.

Gaz then kicked out the back of the fridge. Fortunately, there had also been a vent behind the fridge, and Zim had cut into that as well. Zim wordlessly scooped her up again, his mechanical legs popping out once more, and he took off down the fairly sizeable vent. A series of twists and turns later, as well as what felt like a mile, he stopped.

"Alright," said Gaz, brushing herself off as Zim let her down, "what do we do now?" Zim's only response was to point at the band on his mouth as he took off his eye lenses, his hairpiece having fallen off quite some time ago.

"We need to get that off, obviously," said Gaz. "You're the only one who knows the... wait, why not just write down the over-ride command? Write it down, and I'll use it." Zim closed his eyes and shook his head. "Why not?"

Using his spider-legs, Zim scratched a message into the wall of the vent. Squinting her eyes, gaz read, _It only responds to my voice._ Gaz glared at him, causing him to continue writing. _It was an oversight, I was in a hurry. I meant to update it with your voice today if I got the chance._ Gaz sighed.

"Should have done it from the get go," she said. Zim shrugged, having no other way to express he was sorry beyond scratching the word into the wall. "So what now?" Zim scratched his head, and then wrote _Lab_ on the wall. Gaz nodded. She let Zim pick her up again, and they went off into the vents once more. Zim momentarily froze however, upon a sudden and disturbing noise. It was the sound of power returning, and the distant, echoing sound of the elevator moving back up.

'We don't have much time,' thought Zim. He took off at full speed, knowing he needed to get to the lab before Gir did. With any luck, the robot would search the vents before going to the lab to head them off, hoping that he thought Zim to stupid to think to go there. It wasn't much of a hope, but it was the best he had at the moment.

It wasn't long before they went through the vent-cover. The second they landed on the floor, Zim began looking for something, anything at all to help him get the band off. A spider-leg tugging at it just in case, he began rummaging through tools.

Gaz also looked, having a feeling that she knew what sort of thing they needed. They hoped they could find something before Gir crashed in.

"Computer!" exclaimed Gaz. "Is there anything in here that can help us. And how is Gir doing this? Don't you have control?"

"BZZT-No," replied Computer, voice filled with static. "Gir-zzzt-shut out my-krsh-override. Can't-zzt- Minimoose operational, not captuuuu..." Computer's voice faded out. Gaz thought quickly, then called out.

"Minimoose! MINIMOOSE!" she cried, looking all around. She heard a terrified "squeek" come from under a pile of equipment. She ran to it and moved it all to the side, revealing a quivering Minimoose hidden underneath. "Minimoose, are you ok?" Minimoose looked up, and upon seeing Gaz seemed to calm down a bit. In response to her question, he nodded. "Minimoose, we need your help." She motioned around the lab. "Is there anything down here that might be able to help us get that thing of Zim's mouth?" she pointed at the aforementioned alien.

Zim seemed to have ceased his efforts, at least momentarily, to remove the band. He'd made his way to the main lab door, and was fiddling with the control panel. Before Gaz could as him what he was doing, he'd pressed a few buttons, causing the lights to flicker. Annoyed, he struck the panel with one of his spider-legs, destroying it. While he had no quick way to communicate that he was trying to buy them time, Gaz understood.

"Now he'll have to physically bust through the door, right?" she asked. He nodded. "Or at least he'll have to follow the vents like we did." Zim nodded again. She turned back to Minimoose. Anything yet? Luckily, the answer was yes.

Minimoose quickly floated over to her, carrying a tool that she's seen Zim working with before. It was a low-power laser cutter.

"Zim! Get over here!" Zim was by her side in an instant, and it turned out to be not a second too soon. They heard pounding on the door, and screams of rage from what they knew to be Gir. Zim quickly grabbed the laser and, summoning a mirror from his pak, began working.

He had all but cut through the band when Gir unexpectedly burst through the door.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGH!" roared the tiny, enraged robot, charging towards them. Zim immediately put himself between the oncoming Gir and Gaz, tearing at the band as he did. He finally released it as Gir jumped at him. Time seemed to freeze.

"WAFFLES!" screamed Zim. Gir immediately turned blue, a dopey look returning to his face. He was still in the air, though, and went crashing into Zim. "UGH! My Spine!"

Gaz angrily pulled herself out of the resulting pile-up. "WAFFLES!?" she raged. "THAT was your big mysterious over-ride command!?"

"He never would have guessed it!" said Zim, defensively. "Furthermore, he didn't."

"And what's the big deal not giving me equal access to the over-ride, huh!?" demanded Gaz. "We're supposed to be in this together!"

"I know, and I'm sorry," said Zim. "It was obviously never supposed to come to this. I didn't allow for your voice to work for the same reason I didn't tell you what the command was. I couldn't risk the possibility of Dib learning what it was, and with two voices instead of one, he had a better chance of being able to exploit it."

"That barely justifies it," said Gaz. She massaged the bridge of her nose. She didn't know what was worse: the fact that Zim's oversight had nearly killed them, or the fact that she kinda felt hurt that she hadn't been allowed to do anything to prevent it. "We need to work on this, ok? As a team this time?"

"Yes," said Zim, looking down shamefully at his feet. "Yes we do. I should have let you in on it from the beginning, as you said. This next phrase will be better." He looked over at Gir to see him happily rolling back and forth along the floor for the first time in far too long. "And you will be in on it. If one of us becomes compromised, it is imperative that the other is able to stop Gir."

Without warning, he felt arms close in around him. He braced for an attack, but it did not come. It took Zim a few moments to realize that Gaz was hugging him. He, at that moment, couldn't recall being more confused.

"Uh..." he mumbled, unsure of what to say.

"Thanks," said Gaz. "You sorta saved my life. Good job." She ended the hug, and then punched him on the arm for good measure. "Don't let it happen again, dude." Zim rubbed his arm, ready to retort, but decided against it when he saw that Gaz had a small smile on her face. He smiled back.

"Understood."

"Now let's go get Skoodge down off the wall," said Gaz.

"And after that we can get Computer back up and running," said Zim. "And get this mess cleaned up."

"Can we make muffins?" asked Gir.

"Yes Gir, we can make muffins."

"Yay!"

Tada! Thanks for sticking around, true believers. This chapter was a long time coming, and I hadn't meant to work on it yet, but inspiration hit and I knew I needed to roll with it, or be doooooooomed. So, things got a little hairy there. Hope you enjoyed the change of pace, and hope I can get this updated in a somewhat timely manner.

Will Gaz and Zim find a way to make duty-mode Gir safer? Will Skoodge develop and then overcome duct tape phobia? And what kind of muffins will they end up making?

Tune in next time and find out!


End file.
